This invention relates to an ampule storage bag which can store ampules designated in a prescription and can be mounted on a transfusion bottle designated in the same prescription.
Some therapeutic drugs are put in ampules (or vials), while others are put in transfusion bottles. In many cases, drugs in ampules are used together with a drug in a transfusion bottle for each patient. Ordinarily, a plurality of ampules are used for each patient. A plurality of ampules prescribed for each patient are packaged in a bag, and collected in a bucket (or a tray) together with a transfusion bottle.
Ampules are packaged in the manner as disclosed in unexamined Japanese patent publication 2-60648. In many cases, drugs in such ampules are used not for direct injection but after being mixed with the drug in the bottle. For example, drugs in ampules are mixed with glucose liquid in a transfusion bottle and supplied by dripping into the body of a patient who is unable to take meals.
In collecting packaged ampules and a transfusion bottle for each patient and mixing drugs in the ampules with the drug in the bottle, pharmacists experience the following difficulties. First, a pharmacist has to check if the packaged ampules and the bottle are for the same patient. If he fails to find out that the ampules and the bottle are not for the same patient but for two different patients, there is no other way to find out this error in later stations.
In the arrangement in which an automatic packaging device is used to automatically package ampules in a bag and put the bag into a bucket together with a transfusion bottle, ampules may be broken. Broken ampules have to be replaced with new ones. Also, ampule bags may be put in the wrong buckets. Such mistakes can lead to serious malpractice cases.
An object of this invention is to provide an ampule storage bag which improves the reliability of inspection and working efficiency and prevents the breakage of ampules, and is easy to handle.